If Assistant isn’t your thing, you can now talk to Cortana on the Android lock screen

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Published 28 Mar 2017

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The AI battle on our Android phones is getting serious. After added Assistant to millions of hsets running Marshmallow Nougat, Amazon followed by adding exa to the Mate 9. And now Microsoft is looking to enhance its new position on the lock screen.

Microsoft added Cortana to the Android lock screen earlier this month, but it was little more than a feed of information with news, calendar appointments, weather. th the latest update, Cortana on the lock screen has been enhanced to allow lock-screen interactions, giving Assistant a serious run for its money.

The feature, which can be enabled inside the Cortana app, adds a familiar circle to your lock screen that can be swiped to the right to see your Now-style series of cards. At the bottom of that screen you’ll also see a new microphone icon. Tap it it’ll take you to a new screen where you’ll be able to ask Cortana questions just like you would in the app.

cortana lock screen

You can now talk to Cortana right on the lock screen of your Android phone.

In addition to the new lock screen functionality, Microsoft has also updated the Cortana feed on Android to provide information about your upcoming schedule, commute, reminders, as well as the ability to quickly add reminders new calendar items to your day. sts are also easier to access now so you can quickly manage your tasks.

Cortana also plays nicer with ndows 10, syncing your reminders letting you respond to calls texts on your . The update is rolling out to the ay Store, but if you’re not seeing it, you can get it early by side-loading the A from AMirror.

AI vs. AI: Suddenly our phones are getting very crowded. th Assistant Cortana both accessible from the lock screen, now exa beginning to cross over to Android, it’s going to be interesting to see how can fend off the infiltrators. No AI assistant is perfect, but they all have their strengths, so is going to need to keep teaching Assistant new tricks if it wants to keep winning the battle over our phones.